Two unidentified men suspected to be robbers were killed in a gunfight with Manila policemen before dawn Wednesday.
The shootout occurred around 3:45 a.m. after the police received a tip about the presence of two suspicious men carrying high-powered firearms at the corner of España Boulevard and Algeciras Street in Manila.
Earlier, a concerned citizen informed Senior Police Officer 1 Raul Nadera and Police Officer 2 Antonio Coderes, both of the anticrime unit of the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 4, about the two men. The policemen then began tailing the suspected robbers who were on a motorcycle from España Boulevard until Quezon Boulevard.
MPD Station 4 commander Superintendent Rolando Balasabas said that one of the men was carrying what looked like a small machine gun.
When Nadera and Coderes went to verify the report, they spotted the two men on a motorcycle without a license plate, based on a report submitted by case investigator SPO2 Edmundo Cabal.
The men traversed España Boulevard going to Quiapo, before making a U-turn in the vicinity of Quinta Market to go on to the northbound lane of Quezon Boulevard.
The men probably started to suspect that they were being tailed because upon reaching the underpass, they turned toward Lerma Street and the back rider started spraying the pursuing policemen with bullets, Balasabas said.
The police, who were also on a motorcycle, managed to dodge the gunfire while Coderes returned fire, hitting the back rider and causing the two men’s motorcycle to topple over.
The other suspected robber, on the other hand, took out a firearm, prompting Coderes to shoot him.
Recovered from the scene, near the body of one of the suspected robbers, was a 9 mm Intratec luger pistol with serial number #486315, two magazines and 17 9mm cartridges. He also had more than P2,000 in his pocket.